In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, right-wing agitators and global warming deniers attempted to blame the disaster on the policies of liberal politicians and environmentalists, who they assert are overly cautious, alarmist, and delusional. Right-wingers have gone so far as to hold the restrictions on shallow-water drilling—and those who support them—as culpable for deepwater drilling and its risks, and thus the ensuing disaster. Some media figures even promoted the idea that the disaster was the result of politically motivated sabotage by leftist activists. These polemical reactions to unfathomable events reflect a tendency of some to retreat to ideological extremism and conspiracy theory when suffering from the discomfort of opposing ideas.

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In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, right-wing agitators and global warming deniers attempted to blame the disaster on the policies of liberal politicians and environmentalists, who they assert are overly cautious, alarmist, and delusional. Right-wingers have gone so far as to hold the restrictions on shallow-water drilling—and those who support them—as culpable for deepwater drilling and its risks, and thus the ensuing disaster. Some media figures even promoted the idea that the disaster was the result of politically motivated sabotage by leftist activists. These polemical reactions to unfathomable events reflect a tendency of some to retreat to ideological extremism and conspiracy theory when suffering from the discomfort of opposing ideas.